Ebola Cases Reported Up Sharply in Liberia.

Gladstone, Rick. "Ebola Cases Reported Up Sharply in Liberia." New York Times. N.p., 8 Sept. 2014. Web. 9 Sept. 2014.

In the New York Times article, Ebola Cases Reported Up Sharply in Liberia written by Rick Gladstone on September 8, 2014, addresses the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.  The World Health Organization now refers to the outbreak a crisis.  Liberia is stated to have the highest number of cases and highest number of deaths caused from Ebola. Although the number of people with Ebola in Liberia, there are few health care workers and hospital beds. “Liberia had only 1 doctor per 100,00 people.” This static was stated before the outbreak began and now there are 152 health care workers with Ebola, 79 of which have died. The government in West Africa is trying to find ways for Ebola to stop spreading. The Government of Sierra Leone is imposing a curfew on all its citizens this month to further assess the problem. Liberia tired to quarantine all Ebola patients but that did not work. There have been riots so it only lasted ten days. The end of the article suggests that experts say that vaccines could be available soon and they are trying very hard to find a cure.

Ebola is a threat to all of us. The virus causes the patients to have high fevers, fatigue, and internal bleeding.  The disease was discovered in 1976, and this year in 2014 there was an extreme outbreak in Africa. It not only has affected West Africa but also all the countries helping by spending money and losing lives of rescuers. At the Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, doctors saved two American health workers that caught Ebola. They will be treating a third patient from West Africa as well.

This article was a well-written article. The article was clear to understand and gave good information on the history of the outbreak through the future. It stated the current news on the Ebola outbreak in a timely matter and also gave information on what will happen in the future with methods to try to cure Ebola. However, it would have been better if there was more history on different outbreaks in Africa or even if they have broken out anywhere else in the world. Another important of information that was missing was what factors cause Ebola so in the future, or even now, we know how to contain it or prevent it. Therefore, a little more information could be needed to make this article improved.  

Posted for M. Buendia

After a Two-Year Trek, NASA's Mars Rover Reaches Its Mountain Lab

In this article, After a Two Year Trek, NASA’s Mars Rover Reaches Its Mountain Lab, by Kenneth Chang, it is described that the Mars rover, Curiosity, has reached its destination (a 3 mile high mountain called Mount Sharp) where it will begin to perform its main scientific experiments. The rover was launched in January of 2012 landed on Mars in August of 2012. Since then, Curiosity has been conducting minor experiments, taking photographs, and has been driving around the dust planet looking for the perfect place to begin its real research. The article stated that the arrival time to the mountain took slightly longer than scientists thought because they did not want to damage any part of the rover. Also, the author mentioned how this project has cost over $2.5 billion so far and in the upcoming year, it will cost around $59.4 million for operations alone. Though Curiosity conducted an experiment suggesting that a huge crater was once some form of lake and it has found rocks that contain high silicone levels, meaning that they have been altered by water, the article seemed to suggest that the focus of the last two years was about driving the rover and not as much about the actual experiments.

The Mars rover project is a huge leap in the discovery of space and science and could further inspire NASA and other space programs to dig deep into new discoveries of our our galaxy. This project could also spark ideas and theories created by future generations who are eager to discover more knowledge. Curiosity is also the beginning of a new era of exploring and observing other planets. This could mean we find some sort of life on Mars or evidence that there was life at one time. It could even mean just collecting more rocks. Unfortunately, I feel that the only thing holding us back from more space research is the price tag that comes along with it.

In my opinion, I think that this article was not very well written. Though it was very easy to understand for anyone who doesn’t know a lot about astronomy and science, it only provided decent information. It is clear that the author knows about the topic he is writing about and that the facts and quotes were carefully researched. However, I do think that this article was missing a great amount of facts and was lacking details about the true mission of Curiosity and what experiments they will be conducting. Usually I am very interested in these sorts of topics but this article just wasnt very intriguing.

Chang, Kenneth. "After a Two-Year Trek, NASA’s Mars Rover Reaches Its Mountain Lab." The New York Times. The New York Times, 11 Sept. 2014. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

Fixing Climate Change May Add No Costs, Report Says

          The article that I read for my current event was about how in decades of public debate global warning, one belief has been accepted by virtually all factions. Tackling global warning would be costly.  But a new report announced that the necessarily fixes could wind up free. When the insignificant benefits of greener policies such as, lower fuel cost, fewer premature deaths from air pollution and reduced medical bills are taken to account, these changes might wind up saving money, according to the findings of the group, The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. "We are proposing a way to have the same or even more economic growth, and at the same time have environmental responsibility," said the chairmen of the commission, Felipe Calderon, the former president of Mexico and an economist. "We need to fix this problem of climate change, because it's affecting all of us." The chairmen of the commission is correct. The problem of the climate change is affecting others, and we don't want it to get worse. We need to fix this problem before it gets worse.

         The article that I read is important to all people in the world. As the chairmen of The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, he stated and set a point that the problem of the climate change could hurt lots of people, its affecting us. If the problem of the climate change becomes worse, it could start to hurt people like you or your family members. This article is important because it is setting a point on how this problem needs to be cured and it's also setting awareness.

         This article I believe was a great amount of information for me to want to change something about the problem of climate change. It makes me want to make others aware of how much money we were spending before there could be a possibility that all these fixes could wind up free. This article also makes me want to read more on this topic. To add on to this article, the author should add more information that is depth, so that people who are interested can learn more about the topic they are interested in. Adding more information on to this article could also make others want to read more about this article and make people more interested in what they are reading. Overall, I believe that it is very important for the problem of climate change to be corrected.

Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science science essay competition for high school students

The Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science (http://www.dartmouth.edu/admissions/docs/isec-2014.pdf) is sponsoring an international science essay competition for high school students. I am writing to ask your help in sharing this information with students in your schools who may be interested in participating. By providing an interdisciplinary forum for sharing undergraduate research, the Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science highlights the important and exciting work being done by Dartmouth students and faculty. Through the international science essay competition, the undergraduate editorial board seeks to include a broader array of voices in exploring the recent effects and future promise of science in our society. A complete explanation of the contest, along with rules for participation, can be found online (http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/isec-2014) . Thank you in advance for sharing this with your students and best wishes for the new school year. Maria Laskaris Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Dartmouth College

Harvard researchers develop bioplastic made from shrimp shells

"Harvard Researchers Develop Bioplastic Made from Shrimp Shells." Fox News. FOX News Network, 16 May 2014. Web. 21 May 2014. <http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/05/16/harvard-researchers-develop-bioplastic-made-from-shrimp-shells/>.

For my current event I read the article “Harvard researchers develop bioplastic made from shrimp shells,” by Fox News.  This is a very interesting article which discusses the advancements in organic technology which have been made by researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.  Basically, a team of researchers in this department were able to create a new type of bioplastic from the substance chitin.  This is real neat because chitin actually comes from the shells of shrimp, and it is the second most abundant organic substance on earth, so there are no worries that we will run out of chitin if we want to use it for more purposes in the future.  The article states that “the bioplastic the lab creates is fully biodegradable – so much so, in fact, that they were able to grow a California Blackeye pea plant in soil enriched with its chitosan bioplastic over a three-week period” (par. 7).  This is important because it shows that using chitin as an alternative resource won’t hurt the environment.  The researchers hope that this discovery will allow for the production of plastic to keep going, minus any harmful effects.

           

This new bioplastic has a huge impact on society because it allows for people to keep creating plastic and other materials that usually would harm the environment, but now instead use a biodegradable material of which there is a high abundance.  Switching over to chitin as the primary resource for plastic and other synthetic materials is a step in the right direction to help stop global warming.

Overall I think that this was a well written and interesting article, and I definitely recommend it.  The author does a good job of giving information to support the claim that chitin plastics are good for the environment, while at the same time weaving in a mixture of researchers’ quotes and ideas which help strengthen the author’s argument.  I do however wish that the author had included a bit more on the process of creating the plastic, as it is left a bit too vague in the article.  Nonetheless, this article conveyed an important and really interesting topic which I expect will lead to more advancements and improvements in eco-friendly technology up the road.

Looks Like Rain Again. And Again

            I read the article “Looks Like Rain Again. And Again.” from The New York Times written by Justin Gillis. Based off of research from the 1980s, a prediction was released in 1995 stating, ‘The available evidence suggests that a warmer world is likely to experience an increase in the frequency of heavy precipitation events, associated with a more intense hydrological cycle and the increased water-holding capacity of a warmer atmosphere.’ The National Assessment of Climate released last week stated researchers in the U.S reported ‘large increases in heavy precipitation have occurred in the Northeast, Midwest and Great Plains, where heavy downpours have frequently led to runoff that exceeded the capacity of storm drains and levees, and caused flooding events and accelerated erosion.’

            Climate is a very difficult branch of science because of its unpredictability, however scientists have been able to demonstrate skills to predict future climate patterns. While many people are “still catching up with science” it is difficult to not notice the recent heavy rainstorms. A pattern has been observed in recent years of these more frequent rainstorms.

            The title of this article instantly caught my attention when browsing The NY Times website. The beginning of the article really drew me in, but as it went on I found myself slowly losing interest. Other than that, I found the article to be very well written.

Gillis, Justin. "Looks Like Rain Again. And Again." The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 May 2014. Web. 12 May 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/13/science/looks-like-rain-again-and-again.html?ref=science>.

Scientists Warn of Rising Oceans as Antarctic Ice Melts

Gillis, Justin, and Kenneth Chang. "Scientists Warn of Rising Oceans as Antarctic Ice Melts." The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 May 2014. Web. 12 May 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/13/science/earth/collapse-of-parts-of-west-antarctica-ice-sheet-has-begun-scientists-say.html?_r=0>.

I read the New York Times article Scientists Warn of Rising Oceans as Antarctic Ice Melts by Justin Gillis and Kenneth Chang. In 1978, glaciologist (glaciology is the study of glaciers) John H. Mercer of Ohio State University warned that if significant human release of greenhouse gases continued, the West Antarctic ice sheet was of particular vulnerability. He was assailed, but soon after, scientists began paying more attention to the Antarctic ice sheet and their concern has only been growing ever since. On Monday, two groups of scientists reported that the melting of the Antarctic Ice sheet has already begun. The scientists also reported that the complete melting of this ice sheet may be unstoppable at this point, since "global warming is accelerating the pace of the disintegration". The melting of this ice shelf is of particular significance because of its massiveness and the amount of water it holds. Not only will the melting of this ice shelf continue to desalinate the oceans, making it harder and harder for sea life to thrive, but it also poses a threat direct to humankind as well: the rising of ocean water levels. With this ice shelf completely melted, scientists claim that "a rise in global sea level of at least 10 feet may now not be inevitable".

Climate change affects everyone who lives on this planet. Every year, climate change causes our environment to get sicker and sicker. People need to be not only aware of climate change but also aware of the fact that if we don't act right now, it will become inevitable that life on earth will never get back to what it used to be like. As more and more horrific articles about the stresses global warming has put on our world come out, the question really becomes "why haven't we begun taking truly significant action against global warming?"

The topic of climate change is one that I find personal interest in, so this article appealed to me immediately. This article was well-written and clear. The two authors of the article are well-known New York Times writers, so the well-written article was to be expected. Overall, I saw no problems with this article.